A key focus of this blog is the history of Jacksons in Ireland. I am specially curious about those who may be related to Sir Thomas Jackson (1841-1915). His life is key to understanding how a dozen or so young men, sons of Irish tenant farmers, shaped the future of international banking in the Far East in the late 1800s. I also use this blog as a place for playful posts: book and restaurant reviews, recipes, and events in my life. WARNING: Note the date of each post. Some may be outdated.

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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

After our invited guests left for various ferries on Monday,
we were left with our uninvited guests: the dreaded seasonal fruit flies.

So, what’s a gal to do? I checked out the fruit which was mostly
still sound, cut up the good bits, and came up with what I will forever now call
a Fruit Fly Flan. Since no fruit
flies were harmed in making of this flan, it is even vegan-friendly. Even better - it was also the essence of
simplicity to prepare.

This is all I did: I rolled out one pie’s worth of pastry and
placed it in a pie plate. Then, I laid down a tranch of fruit and covered it
with a very light dusting of flour and sugar. Then, I added another layer of
fruit, more flour/sugar, and another layer of fruit, and so on. Bake at 375 F
till done (about 45 minutes). Serve as is, or with yoghurt or whipped cream.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I will get back to blogging on weightier topics in a week or
so, but hey – it’s summer, and yesterday, was so much fun, that I have to share
it. My peak moment was when Vanessa showed up with bread she had baked to be
served as part of our cohousing dinner that night. This was her first ever public
baking. It was so good that one person even asked if she could give master
classes.

L-R Angela, Vanessa, The Moi, Stacia.

As for The Sisters of Mercy, who cooked the rest of the meal
for Cohousing that night, we
also prepared and plated 36 servings of Salad Niçoise with corn on the cob & the aforementioned bread
served as sides. Since we are rank amateurs - except for Stacia - I do feel comfortable bragging a
bit about it. The three of us rocked – at least in my version of it all.

The Sisters of Mercy in the Coho kitchen.

Also worthy of note is that thanks to the availability of ample fresh produce, grown and
harvested by the cohousing gardeners, we didn’t have to stint, and were able to
include fresh tuna and anchovies without going over budget (NOTE: Smoked cheddar for the vegetarians). To top it off, we
served Eileen’s
Rhubarb Lunar Cake for dessert.

In spite of all of the above, it felt like heaven to be able
to sit down after preparing this meal. It was so sweet that Ron had reserved
seats for the three of us so we didn’t have to think about it. My sixty-six
year old feet thank him. And as always, Angela and Stacia are amazing to cook
with. Focused, fun, and indomitable. They always have my back, even when I make
outlandish culinary choices, or – as is my wont - lose focus mid-way through
the afternoon.

For those cohousers who were unable to join us, not to
worry. A year from now, when we have forgotten how much work it was, we will
likely do it again. Maybe I will even try baking our bread in my brother Struan’s
new outdoor oven. His daughter has crafted the exterior so it looks like a
dragon and the wood smoke comes out of its nostrils.

One more thing. I have a confession to make, even though
Julia Child always advised: Never
apologize. In a moment of distraction, I omitted adding the eggs to the
cakes. In hindsight, this may have turned out to be a good thing since the
result received rave results. As Louis Pasteur put it, chance favors the prepared mind. Let’s pretend for a moment that I
possess a prepared mind.

Now, I realize that my discovery is not on a par with Alexander
Fleming’s discovery of penicillin. This came about when he didn't clean up his lab
table before going on vacation one day in 1928. He returned to find that there
was a strange fungus growing on some of his cultures. The next thing you know,
we now all have penicillin. In my case, the discovery is a much more modest one.

My discovery is simply that I now know that I can probably adapt this recipe to a vegan
friendly version.Baby steps. Always baby steps. At least for The Moi.

About Me

Author And Researcher. I am currently writing a book on the life of Sir Thomas Jackson. He was the son of tenant farmers, born just before the Famine in South Armagh, who was knighted because he not only lead HSBC into the 20th Century, but was also responsible for assisting with the funding of much of the economic development in China & Japan in the late 1800s. My first published book was "Some Become Flowers: Living with Dying at Home".